98 A DAY IN THE ELYSIAN FIELDS. 



and venison, and there was some truth in the comparison, 

 for the Manetti grew so vigorously that the stranger be- 

 came stuffed like a cobbed turkey. He was at length sold 

 and removed to a neighbouring garden, where he became 

 debilitated and subject to dropsy, of which, after sundry 

 tappings, he died. One day his master, after bringing a 

 party of friends to see him when in the height of his 

 prosperity, adjourned to a vinery hard by and sent for 

 champagne, with which he regaled them till the whole party 

 grew jovial. (Hear, hear, from Bacchus.) Presently they 

 burst into song, the words of the song he couldn't catch, 

 but the chorus, often repeated and loudly sung, impressed 

 itself on his mind 



" We will talk you to fame with a plausible tale, 

 And be ready with pen if that happen to fail ; 

 But what if both fail? (Minim rest and Bass sold}. 

 I'll still pocket the browns ;* 

 Oh ! this is the way to turn coppers to crowns." 



He would only further say that while under this treatment 

 on the Manetti he was languishing, his brothers and sisters 

 on their own stumps and on the Dog-Rose attained to 

 vigorous manhood, and he dying, left them enjoying the 

 prospect of a green old age. 



The Sempervirens rose to say that he had been budded 

 on the Manetti and grew well enough so, but must confess 

 he much preferred being on his own roots. 



The Tea-Scented, in a small pot, approved of the 

 Manetti. 



The Bourbon in a bad soil did best on the Manetti, 

 but his confreres did better in a neighbour's garden on the 

 Dog-Rose when they had taken pains to improve the soil. 

 (A voice, " What did he know about his neighbours ?") 

 If asked what he knew about his neighbour's garden, he 

 would remind the gods that flowers were different to other 

 sublunary things. What men called their odours, floating 



* Browns Coppers. Rose dn Roi. 



